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FROM DAY TO DAY 
WITH LONGFELLOW 











r rom Day to Day 

With Longfellow 












COMPILED BY 

OLIVE VAN BUREN 












NEW YORK 

BARSE & HOPKINS 

PUBLISHERS 











Copyright, 1910, 

BY 

BARSE & HOPKINS 



T5 Z^^^ 

V3 



©GI.A2684''c 



q^^ From Day to Day with Longfellow 
J -JANUARY 

January First 

Hark! how the loud and ponderous mace of 
Time 
Knocks at the golden portals of the day! 
The Spanish Student, 

January Second 

child! O new-born denizen 

Of life's great city! on thy head 

The glory of the morn is shed, 

Like a celestial benison! 

Here at the portal thou dost stand, 

And with thy little hand 

Thou openest the mysterious gate 

Into the future's undiscovered land. 

Enough! I will not play the Seer; 

1 will no longer strive to ope 
The mystic volume, where appear 
The herald Hope, forerunning Fear, 
And Fear, the pursuivant of Hope. 
Thy destiny remains untold. 

To a Child. 

[5] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

v?< >?< >j< Vjv vjv A< A"^^^ Wi^ /^ y^K j>^ y^K w^ y^ y^ y^K '/^ 

January Third 
O little feet! that such long years 
Must wander on through hopes and fears, 
Must ache and bleed beneath your load ; 
I, nearer to the wayside inn 
Where toil shall cease and rest begin, 
Am weary, thinking of your road ! 

Weariness. 

January Fourth 
Ah, how skilful grows the hand 
That obeyeth Love's command ! 
It is the heart, and not the brain, 
That to the highest doth attain, 
And he who followeth Love's behest 
Far exceedeth all the rest! 

The Buildmg of the Ship. 

January Fifth 
Be noble in every thought 
And in every deed! 
Let not the illusion of thy senses 
Betray thee to deadly offences. 
Be strong ! be good ! be pure ! 
The right only shall endure. 
All things else are but false pretences. 
The Golden Legend. 

[6] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

January Sixth 

O the long and dreary Winter! 
O the cold and cruel Winter! 
Ever thicker, thicker, thicker 
Froze the ice on lake and river, 
Ever deeper, deeper, deeper 
Fell the snow o'er all the landscape, 
Fell the covering snow, and drifted 
Through the forest, round the village. 
The Song of Hiawatha. 



January Seventh 

Behold of what delusive worth 

The bubbles we pursue on earth, 

The shapes we chase. 

Amid a world of treachery! 

They vanish ere death shuts the eye 

And leave no trace. 

Time steals them from us, — chances strange, 

Disastrous accidents, and change. 

That come to all ; 

Even in the most exalted state. 

Relentless sweeps the stroke of fate; 

The strongest fall. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

[7] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

January Eighth 

"When I shake my hoary tresses," 
Said the old man, darkly frowning, 
"All the land with snow is covered; 
All the leaves from all the branches 
Fall and fade and die and wither. 
For I breathe, and lo ! they are not. 
From the waters and the marshes 
Rise the wild goose and the heron, 
Fly away to distant regions, 
For I speak, and lo ! they are not." 

The Song of Hiawatha. 

January Ninth 

Lovest thou God as thou oughtest, then lovest 

thou likewise thy brethren ; 
One is the sun in heaven, and one, only one, is 

Love also. 
Bears not each human figure the godlike stamp 

on his forehead.^ 
Readest thou not in his face thine origin.? Is he 

not sailing 
Lost like thyself on an ocean unknown, and is 

he not guided 
By the same stars that guide thee.^* 

The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

[8] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

'M^y^^y^ vjv v|y >;< >;*k v?>c>;v vjv v;v i^y^KV^ v*v v^y y;y v^ 

January Tenth 
Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come 

snow, 
We will stand by each other, however it blow. 

Annie of Tharaw, 

January Eleventh 
How can I teach your children gentleness, 

And mercy to the weak, and reverence 
For Life, which, in its weakness or excess, 

Is still a gleam of God's omnipotence. 
Or Death, which, seeming darkness, is no less 

The selfsame light, although averted hence. 
When by your laws, your actions, and your 

speech. 
You contradict the very things I teach? 

The Birds of Killingworth, 

January Twelfth 
Lito the Silent Land! 
Ah ! who shall lead us thither ? 
Clouds in the evening sky more darkly gather. 
And shattered wrecks lie thicker on the strand. 
Who leads us with a gentle hand 
Thither, O thither. 
Into the Silent Land? 

Song of the Silent Land, 

[9] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
JK'??*^*?^ 'j^y^y^ y^y^y^ y^y^yi<yf<yff y^yf<yf<y^ 

January Thirteenth 

Disenchantment ! Disillusion ! 

Must each noble aspiration 

Come at last to this conclusion, 

Jarring discord, wild confusion, 

Lassitude, renunciation ? 

Epimetheus. 
January Fourteenth 
From the sky the sun benignant 
Looked upon them through the branches, 
Saying to them, "O my children, 
Love is sunshine, hate is shadow. 
Life is checkered shade and sunshine, 
Rule by love, O Hiawatha!" 

The Song of Hiawatha. 
January Fifteenth 
The reign of violence is o'er 
Or dying surely from the world; 
While Love triumphant reigns instead, 
And in a brighter sky o'erhead 
His blessed banners are unfurled. 
And most of all thank God for this : 
The war and waste of clashing creeds 
Now end in words, and not in deeds. 
And no one suffers loss, or bleeds, 
For thoughts that men call heresies. 

Interlude. 
[10] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

January Sixteenth 

Earthly desires and sensual lust 

Are passions springing from the dust, — 

They fade and die; 

But, in the life beyond the tomb, 

They seal the immortal spirit's doom 

Eternally ! 

Coplas de Manriqwe, 

January Seventeenth 

Chill airs and wintry winds! my ear 
Has grown familiar with your song; 

I hear it in the opening year, — 
I listen, and it cheers me long. 

Woods in Wmter, 

January Eighteenth 

Think of thy brother no ill, but throw a veil 

over his failings, 
Guide the erring aright ; for the good, the 

heavenly shepherd 
Took the lost lamb in his arms, and bore it back 

to its mother. 
This is the fruit of Love, and it is by its fruits 

that we know it. 

The Children of the Lord's Supper. 

[11] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

January Nineteenth 
Our Lord and Master, 
When He departed, left us in His will, 
As our best legacy on earth, the poor! 
These we have always with us ; had we not. 
Our hearts would grow as hard as are these 
stones. 

The Golden Legend. 
January Twentieth 
Ah! if our souls but poise and swing 
Like the compass in its brazen ring, 
Ever level and ever true 
To the toil and the task we have to do, 
We shall sail securely, and safely reach 
The Fortunate Isles, on whose shining beach 
The sights we see, and the sounds we hear, 
Will be those of joy and not of fear! 

The Building of the Ship. 
January Twenty-first 
Thy finer sense perceives 
Celestial and perpetual harmonies ! 
Thy purer soul, that trembles and believes, 
Hears the archangel's trumpet in the breeze. 
And where the forest rolls, or ocean heaves, 
Cecilia's organ sounding in the seas. 
And tongues of prophets speaking in the leaves. 

The Golden Legend. 
[12] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

January Twenty-second 
Still let it ever be thy pride 
Tq linger by the laborer's side; 
With words of sympathy or song 
To cheer the dreary march along 
Of the great army of the poor, 
O'er desert sand, o'er dangerous moor. 
Nor to thyself the task shall be 
Without reward ; for thou shalt learn 
The wisdom early to discern 
True beauty in utility. 

To a Child. 
January Twenty-third 
Instead of whistling to the steeds of Time, 
To make them jog on merrily with life's burden. 
Like a dead weight thou hangest on the wheels. 
Thou art too young, too full of lusty health 
To talk of dying. 

The Spanish Student. 
January Twenty-fourth 
Love is the creature's welfare, with God ; but 

Love among mortals 
Is but an endless sigh ! He longs, and endures, 

and stands waiting, 
SuflPers and yet rejoices, and smiles with tears 
on his eyelids. 
The Children of the Lord's Supper, 
[13] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

January Twenty-fifth 
Happy, thrice happy every one 
Who sees his labor well begun, 
And not perplexed and multiplied. 
By idly waiting for time and tide. 

The Building of the Ship, 

January Twenty-sixth 
I saw, as in a dream sublime. 
The balance in the hand of Time. 
O'er East and West its beam impended ; 
And day, with all its hours of light, 
Was slowly sinking out of sight, 
While, opposite, the scale of night 
Silently with the stars ascended. 

The Occnltation of Orion, 

January Twenty-seventh 
Sleep, sleep, O city! though within 
The circuit of your walls there lies 
No habitation free from sin. 
And all its nameless miseries ; 
The aching heart, the aching head, 
Grief for the living and the dead, 
And foul corruption of the time, 
Disease, distress, and want, and woe. 

The Golden Legend, 

[14] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

7fKy:s^y^y^ >^c v?k yiv'??*^ >^ >^ )^ x^x xix wx x^v >iv v^v hv» 

January Twenty-eighth 
Even as our cloudy fancies take 

Suddenly shape m some divine expression, 
Even as the troubled heart doth make 
In the white countenance confession, 
The troubled sky reveals 
The grief it feels. 

SnoW'Flnhes, 
January Twenty-ninth 
The Angel of the Star of Love, 
The Evening Star, that shines above 

The place where lovers be. 
Above all happy hearths and homes. 
On roofs of thatch, or golden domes, 
I give him Charity ! 

The Golden Legend. 

January Thirtieth 
Not to one church alone, but seven. 
The voice prophetic spake from heaven ; 
And unto each the promise came. 
Diversified, but still the same; 
For him that overcometh are 
The new name written on the stone. 
The raiment white, the crown, the throne. 
And I will give him the Morning Star ! 

Interlude, 
[15] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

VtKyfKyf^y^'j^yiKyfK 7^>^ y^ y^x y^x xjv y^x y^ x|x 7|?^??k 

January Thirty-first 

All are architects of Fate, 

Working in these walls of Time; 

Some with massive deeds and great, 
Some with ornaments of rhyme. 

Nothing useless is, or low; 

Each thing in its place is best; 
And what seems but idle show 

Strengthens and supports the rest. 

Build to-day, then, strong and sure, 
With a firm and ample base; 

And ascending and secure 

Shall to-morrow find its place. 

The Builders. 



[16] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



FEBRUARY 



February First 

Our feelings and our thoughts 
Tend ever on, and rest not in the Present. 
As drops of rain fall into some dark well, 
And from below comes a scarce audible sound, 
So fall our thoughts into the dark Hereafter, 
And their mysterious echo reaches us. 

The Spanish Student, 



February Second 

Therefore, child of mortality, love thou the mer- 
ciful Father; 

Wish what the Holy One wishes, and not from 
fear, but affection; 

Fear is the virtue of slaves ; but the heart that 
loveth is willing; 

Perfect was before God, and perfect is Love, 
and Love only. 

The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

[17] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Third 
O great eternity 
Our little life is but a gust 

That bends the branches of thy tree. 
And trails its blossoms in the dust. 

Suspiria. 

February Fourth 

Yet why should I fear death ! What is it to die? 

To leave all disappointment, care, and sorrow, 

To leave all falsehood, treachery, and unkind- 

ness. 
All ignominy, suffering, and despair, 
And be at rest forever ! O dull heart, 
Be of good cheer! When thou shalt cease to 

beat, 
Then shalt thou cease to suffer and complain! 
The Spanish Student, 
February Fifth 
Patience ; accomplish thy labor ; accomplish thy 

work of affection ! 
Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient en- 
durance is godlike. 
Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the 

heart is made godHke, 
Purified, strengthened, perfected, and rendered 
more worthy of heaven ! 

Evangelme. 
[18] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Sixth 
Then in Life's goblet freely press 
The leaves that give It bitterness, 
Nor prize the colored waters less, 
For in thy darkness and distress 
New light and strength they give! 

The Goblet of Life, 

February Seventh 
All is but a symbol painted 

Of the Poet, Prophet, Seer ; 
Only those are crowned and sainted 
Who with grief have been acquainted, 
Making nations nobler, freer. 

Prometheus. 

February Eighth 
And forever and forever. 

As long as the river flows. 
As long as the heart has passions, 

As long as life has woes ; 

The moon and its broken reflection 
And its shadows shall appear, 

As the symbol of love in heaven. 
And its wavering Image here. 

The Bridge, 

[19] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Ninth 
Let us choose that narrow way, 
Which leads no traveler's foot astray 
From realms of love. 

Coplas de Manrique. 

February Tenth 
"Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shalt 
see 
How he persists to knock and wait for thee !" 
And, ! how often to that voice of sorrow, 
"To-morrow we will open," I replied, 
And when the morrow came I answered still, 
"To-morrow." 

To-morrow. 

February Eleventh 
And the evening sun descending 
Set the clouds on fire with redness, 
Burned the broad sky, like a prairie. 
Left upon the level water 
One long track and trail of splendor, 
Down whose stream, as down a river, 
Westward, westward Hiawatha 
Sailed into the fiery sunset. 
Sailed into the purple vapors, 
Sailed into the dusk of evening. 

The Song of Hiawatha. 
[20] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Twelfth 
Toiling, — rejoicing, — sorrowing, 
Onward through life he goes ; 
Each morning sees some task begin, 

Each evening sees it close ; 
Something attempted, something done, 
Has earned a night's repose. 

The Village Blacksmith. 
February Thirteenth 
Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, 

For the lesson thou hast taught! 
Thus at the flaming forge of life 

Our fortunes must be wrought; 
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped 
Each burning deed and thought! 

The Village Blacksmith. 
February Fourteenth 
In the elder days of Art, 

Builders wrought with greatest care 
Each minute and unseen part; 
For the Gods see everywhere. 

Let us do our work as well. 

Both the unseen and the seen ; 
Make the house, where Gods may dwell, 
Beautiful, entire, and clean. 

The Builders. 
[21] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Fifteenth 

Ah! what a wondrous thing It is 
To note how many wheels of toil 
One thought, one word, can set in motion ! 
The Building of the Ship. 

February Sixteenth 
Let us be patient! These severe afflictions 

Not from the ground arise. 
But oftentimes celestial benedictions 
Assume this dark disguise. 

Resignation, 

February Seventeenth 
O World ! so few the years we live, 
Would that the life which thou dost give 
Where life indeed! 
Alas ! thy sorrows fall so fast. 
Our happiest hour is when at last 
The soul is freed. 

Coplas de Manrique. 

February Eighteenth 
This world is but the rugged road 
Which leads us to the bright abode 
Of peace above. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

[22] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Nineteenth 
Intelligence and courtesy not always are com- 
bined ; 
Often in a wooden house a golden room we find. 

Poetic Aphorisms. 
February Twentieth 
I am weary 
Of the bewildering masquerade of Life, 
Where strangers walk as friends, and friends as 

strangers ; 
Where whispers overheard betray false hearts ; 
And through the mazes of the crowd we chase 
Some form of loveliness, that smiles, and 

beckons, 
And cheats us with fair words, only to leave us 
A mockery and a jest; maddened, — confused, — 
Not knowing friend from foe. 

The Spanish Student, 
February Twenty-first 
Beloved country ! banished from thy shore, 
A stranger in this prison-house of clay, 
The exiled spirit weeps and sighs for thee ! 
Heavenward the bright perfections I adore 
Direct, and the sure promise cheers the way. 
That, whither love aspires, there shall my dwell- 
ing be. 

The Native Land. 
[23] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Twenty-second 
Don't cross the bridge till you come to it 
Is a proverb old and of excellent wit. 

The Golden Legend. 
February Twenty-third 
Alas ! the world is full of peril ! 
The path that runs through the fairest meads, 
On the sunniest side of the valley, leads 
Into a region bleak and sterile! 
Ahke in the high-born and the lowly, 
The will is feeble, and passion strong. 
We cannot sever right from wrong; 
Some falsehood mingles with all truth ; 
Nor is it strange the heart of youth 
Should waver and comprehend but slowly 
The things that are holy and unholy! 

The Golden Legend. 
February Twenty-fourth 
The day is ending. 
The night is descending; 
The marsh is frozen, 

The river dead. 
Through clouds like ashes 
The red sun flashes 
On village windows 
That glimmer red. 

Afternoon in February. 
[24] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Twenty-fifth 

Ever thicker, thicker, thicker 
Froze the ice on lake and river, 
Ever deeper, deeper, deeper 
Fell the snow o'er all the landscape. 

The Song of Hiawatha. 

February Twenty-sixth 

All through Hfe there are way-side inns, where 
man may refresh his soul with love ; 

Even the lowest may quench his thirst at rivu- 
lets fed by springs from above. 

The Golden Legend. 

February Twenty-seventh 

Why then are you not contented? 
Why then will you hunt each other ? 

I am weary of your quarrels. 
Weary of your wars and bloodshed, 
Weary of your prayers for vengeance, 
Of your wranglings and dissensions ; 
All your strength is in your union. 
All your danger is in discord ; 
Therefore be at peace henceforward. 
And as brothers live together. 

The Song of Hiawatha. 

[^5] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

February Twenty-eighth 

As the palm-tree standeth so straight and so 

tall, 
The more the hail beats, and the more the rains 

fall,— 
So love in our hearts shall grow mighty and 

strong. 
Through crosses, through sorrows, through 

manifold wrong. 

Annie of Tharaw. 

February Twenty-ninth 

Ye voices, that arose 

After the Evening's close. 

And whispered to my restless heart repose ! 

Go, breathe it in the ear 

Of all who doubt and fear, 

And say to them, "Be of good cheer!" 

L' Envoi, 



[26] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

n^yi^ yf\ v^ v^v y^K i^y^yiKy^ vj< vjv vjv y;*c v^ y^v v^v v^v. 



MARCH 



Maech Fiest 

The sky was blue ; without one cloud of gloom, 
The sun of March was shining brightly, 

And to the air the freshening wind gave lightly 
Its breathings of perfume. 

The Blind Girl of CastelrCuillL 



Maech Second 

Never here, forever there. 
Where all parting, pain, and care, 
And death, and time shall disappear, — 
Forever there, but never here! 
The horologe of Eternity 
Sayeth this incessantly, — 
"Forever — never ! 
Never — forever !" 

The Old Clock on the Stairs, 

[27] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

7^y^yiKyfKy^y$KyfKyt^yi< vjv v^- vjv: >^ >^' y^ y^ y^ v|v 

March Third 
Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak. 
It serves for food and raiment. 

The Golden Legend. 

March Fourth 
For the structure that we raise, 

Time is with materials filled; 
Our to-days and yesterdays 

Are the blocks with which we build. 

Truly shape and fashion these; 

Leave no yawning gaps between ; 
Think not, because no man sees. 

Such things will remain unseen. 

The Builder, 

March Fifth 
Let not him that putteth his hand to the 

plough look backwards ; 
Though the ploughshare cut through the 

flowers of life to its fountains, 
Though it pass o'er the graves of the dead and 

the hearts of the living. 
It is the will of the Lord; and his mercy en- 

dureth forever! 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 

[28] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

TfKyfKy^yfKyiK v?*c >?< ypry^Ki^ v?«c -j^ vk>?< >?<>?? 7?^r>K 

March Sixth 
So long as Time is, is Atonement. 
TA^ Children of the Lord's Supper, 

March Seventh 
You do not look on life and death as I do. 
There are two angels, that attend unseen 
Each one of us, and in great books record 
Our good and evil deeds. He who writes down 
The good ones, after every action closes 
His volume, and ascends with it to God. 
The other keeps his dreadful day-book open 
Till sunset, that we may repent; which doing, 
The record of the action fades away, 
And leaves a line of white across the page. 

The Golden Legend. 

March Eighth 
Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelus 

sounded. 
Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of the 

meadows. 
Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of 

heaven, 
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots 

of the angels. 

Evangeline, 

[29] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

March Ninth 
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! 

Let the dead Past bury its dead ! 
Act, — act in the living Present! 
Heart within, and God o'erhead! 

A Psalm of Life, 
March Tenth 
Ah! if thy fate, with anguish fraught. 
Should be to wet the dusty soil 
With the hot tears and sweat of toil — 
To struggle with imperious thought, 
Until the overburdened brain. 
Weary with labor, faint with pain, 
Like a jarred pendulum, retain 
Only its motion, not its power, — 
Remember, in that perilous hour, 
When most afflicted and oppressed, 
From labor there shall come forth rest. 

To a Child. 
March Eleventh 
Did we but use it as we ought, 
This world would school each wandering 
thought 
To its high state. 
Faith wings the soul beyond the sky, 
Up to that better world on high, 
For which we wait. 

Coplas de Manrique. 
[80] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

VK >?»c >?< vjv >4y )^ >iv 'Mi'Ky^ y^i^y^y^y^i^yfi.y^y^K 

March Twelfth 
The rising moon has hid the stars; 
Her level rays, like golden bars, 
Lie on the landscape green. 
With shadows brown between. 

Endymlon, 

March Thirteenth 

Yes, Love is ever busy with his shuttle. 

Is ever weaving into life's dull warp 

Bright, gorgeous flowers and scenes Arcadian ; 

Hanging our gloomy prison-house about 

With tapestries, that make its walls dilate 

In never ending vistas of delight. 

TUq Spanish Student, 

March Fourteenth 
The heights by great men reached and kept 

Were not attained by sudden flight, 
But they, while their companions slept, 

Were toiling upward in the night. 

All common things, each day's events. 
That with the hour begin and end, 

Our pleasures and our discontents. 
Are rounds by which we may ascend. 

The Ladder of St. Augustine, 

[31] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

>K)^ viv >?< >?v >?<■ yi^y^y^sTfi^y^s: >|v >^ y^Ky^^i^y^Ky^ 

March Fifteenth 
Sacred heart of the Savior! O inexhaustible 

fountain ! 
Fill our hearts this day with strength and sub- 
mission and patience! 

Evangeline, 
March Sixteenth 
Honor to those whose words or deeds 
Thus help us in our daily needs, 
And by their overflow 
Raise us from what is low ! 

Santa Filomena, 
March Seventeenth 
I have no other shield than mine own virtue, 
That is the charm which has protected me ! 
Amid a thousand perils, I have worn it 
Here on my heart! It is my guardian angel. 
The Spanish Student, 
March Eighteenth 
Strange is the heart of man, with its quick, mys- 
terious instincts ! 
Strange is the life of man, and fatal or fated 

are moments, 
Whereupon turn, as on hinges, the gates of the 
wall adamantine! 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 

[32] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

March Nineteenth 

Perfect is love, and love only. 
Lovest thou God as thou oughtest, then lovest 
thou likewise thy brethren. 

The Children of the Lord's Supper. 

March Twentieth 

Round me, o'er me, everywhere, 

All the sky is grand with clouds, 
And athwart the evening air 

Wheel the swallows home in crowds, 
Shafts of sunshine from the west 

Paint the dusky windows red; 
Darker shadows, deeper rest. 

Underneath and overhead. 

The Golden, Legend. 

March Twenty-first 

From the sky the moon looked at them, 
Filled the lodge with mystic splendors, 
Whispered to them, "O my children, 
Day is restless, night is quiet, 
Man imperious, woman feeble; 
Half is mine, although I follow ; 
Rule by patience, Laughing Water !" 

The Song of Hiawatha. 

[33] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

y^y^KJ^yiKy^w^ y^TK^iv v^v >^ >j< >?< j^ >^ >?^ >;< >j< 

March Twenty-second 
In heaven shalt thou receive, at length, 
The guerdon of thine earthly strength 
And dauntless hand. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

March Twenty-third 
Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings 
Of that mysterious instrument, the. soul, 
And play the prelude to our fate. 

The Spanish Student, 

March Twenty-fourth 
He preached to all men everywhere 
The Gospel of the Golden Rule, 
The New Commandment given to men, 
Thinking the deed, and not the creed. 
Would help us in our utmost need. 

The Wayside Inn, 

March Twenty-fifth 
Let our unceasing, earnest prayer 
Be, too, for light, — for strength to bear 
Our portion of the weight of care, 
That crushes into dumb despair 
One half the human race. 

The Goblet of Life. 

[34] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

March Twenty-sixth 
Ah ! what would the world be to us 

If the children were no more? 
We should dread the desert behind us 
Worse than the dark before. 

Children, 

March Twenty-seventh 
All is of God ! If he but wave his hand, 

The mists collect, the rain falls thick and 
loud, 
Till, with a smile of light on sea and land, 
Lo ! he looks back from the departing cloud. 

The Two Angels, 

March Twenty-eighth 
Life is real ! Life is earnest ! 
And the grave is not its goal; 
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest," 
Was not spoken of the soul. 

A Psalm of Life, 

March Twenty-ninth 
There is no Death ! What seems so is transition. 

This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life elysian. 
Whose portal we call Death. 

Resignation, 

[35] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

March Thirtieth 

Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient 
endurance is Godlike. 

Evangeline, 



March Thirty-first 

Visions of childhood! Stay, O stay! 

Ye were so sweet and wild! 
And distant voices seemed to say, 
"It cannot be ! They pass away ! 
Other themes demand thy lay ; 

Thou art no more a child! 

"The land of Song within thee lies, 

Watered by living springs ; 

The lids of Fancy's sleepless eyes 

Are gates unto that Paradise; 

Holy thoughts, like stars, arise, 

Its clouds are angels' wings." 

Frelude, 



[36] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



APRIL 



April First 

Sweet April ! — many a thought 
Is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed ; 
Nor shall they fail, till, to its autumn brought, 

Life's golden fruit is shed. 

An April Day. 



April Second 

Gentle Spring! — in sunshine clad. 
Well dost thou thy power display ! 

For Winter maketh the light heart sad, 

And thou, — thou makest the sad heart gay, 

He sees thee, and calls to his gloomy train, 

The sleet, and the snow, and the wind, and the 
rain ; 

And they shrink away, and they flee in fear, 
When thy merry step draws near. 

Spring. 

[37] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

April Third 
O life and love ! O happy throng 
Of thoughts whose only speech is song! 
O heart of man ! canst thou not be 
Blithe as the air is, and as free? 

A Day of Sunshine. 

April Fourth 
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, 

"Life is but an empty dream !" 
For the soul is dead that slumbers. 
And things are not what they seem. 

A Psalm of Life. 

April Fifth 
Why seek to know? 
Enjoy the merry shrove- tide of thy youth! 
Take each fair mask for what it gives itself, 
Nor strive to look beneath it. 

The Spanish Student. 

April Sixth 
The day is done, and the darkness 

Falls from the wings of Night, 
As a feather is wafted downward 
From an eagle in his flight. 

The Day Is Done. 

[38] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

April Seventh 
O Lord ! that seest, from yon starry height, 
Centred in one the future and the past, 
Fashioned in thine own image, see how fast 
The world obscures in me what once was bright ! 
Eternal Sun ! the warmth which thou hast given. 
To cheer life's flowery April, fast decays; 
Yet, in the hoary winter of my days. 
Forever green shall be my trust in Heaven. 

The Image of God» 
April Eighth 
A new and better life begin! 
God maketh thee forever free 
From the dominion of thy sin ! 
Go, sin no more! He will restore 
The peace that filled thy heart before, 
And pardon thine iniquity ! 

The Golden Legend. 
April Ninth 
If thou art worn and hard beset 
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget. 
If thou wouldst read a lesson, that will keep 
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from 

sleep. 
Go to the woods and hills ! — No tears 
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears. 

Sunrise on the Hills, 
[39] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
jrj^ y^Ky^ y^K yfi: v^k yj^i^y^y^ y^ y^ v^Kyfi:!^ Wfi. y^ v?v 

April Tenth 
Came the Spring with all its splendor, 
All its birds and all its blossoms, 
All its flowers and leaves and grasses. 

The Song of Hiawatha. 

April Eleventh 
No action, whether foul or fair. 
Is ever done, but it leaves somewhere 
A record, written by fingers ghostly, 
As a blessing or a curse, and mostly 
In the greater weakness or greater strength 
Of the acts which follow it, till at length 
The wrongs of ages are redressed, 
And the justice of God made manifest. 

The Golden Legend, 

April Twelfth 
Lives of great men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublime. 
And, departing, leave behind us 

Footprints on the sands of time; 

Footprints, that perhaps another. 
Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
Seeing, shall take heart again. 

A Psalm of Life. 

[40] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
^y^K y^y^K'/^y^ vf^y^ y^Ky^y^y^y^y^Ky^y^Ky^KV^ 

April Thirteenth 
Patience! . . . have faith, and thy 
prayer will be answered. 

Evangeline. 

April Fourteenth 
This hfe of ours is a wild aeolian harp of many 

a joyous strain, 
But under them all there runs a loud perpetual 
wail, as of souls in pain. 

The Spanish Student, 

April Fifteenth 
Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they 

grind exceeding small. 
Though with patience he stands waiting, with 
exactness grinds he all. 

Poetic Aphorisms, 

April Sixteenth 
Celestial King ! O let thy presence pass 
Before my spirit, and an image fair 

Shall meet that look of mercy from on 
high. 
As the reflected image in a glass 

Doth meet the look of him who seeks it there, 
And owes its being to the gazer's eye. 
The Image of God, 

[41] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
yfKy^Kyf^yfKyfKj^ y^K y^y;^ >?<>?< >^ >iv v^v y|< y|v y^v y^ 

April Seventeenth 
Think of thy brother no ill, but throw a veil 

over his faihngs, 
Guide the erring aright. 

The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

April Eighteenth 
Laugh of the mountain ! — lyre of bird and tree ! 
Pomp of the meadow ! mirror of the morn ! 
The soul of April, unto whom are born 
The rose and jessamine, leaps wild in thee! 

The Brook, 

April Nineteenth 
Whene'er a noble deed is wrought. 
Whene'er is spoken a noble thought, 
Our hearts, in glad surprise, 
To higher levels rise. 

Santa Filomena. 

April Twentieth 
To One alone my thoughts arise. 
The Eternal Truth, — the Good and Wise, — 
To Him I cry. 

Who shared on earth our common lot, 
But the world comprehended not 
His deity. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

[43] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

April Twenty-first 
The will of heaven my will shall be, 
I bow to the divine decree, 
To God's behest. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

April Twenty-second 
This is the day, when from the dead 
Our Lord arose; and everywhere, 
Out of their darkness and despair, 
Triumphant over fears and foes, 
The hearts of his disciples rose ; 
When to the women, standing near, 
The Angel in shining vesture said, 
"The Lord is risen ; he is not here !" 

The Golden Legend. 

April Twenty-third 

Therefore love and believe; for works will fol- 
low spontaneous 

Even as day does the sun ; the Right from the 
Good is an offspring. 

Love in a bodily shape ; and Christian works are 
no more than 

Animate Love and Faith, as flowers are the ani- 
mate spring-tide. 

The Children of the Lord's Supper. 

[43] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
-^y^TT^ y^ y^K ^ptt^t^k >?^ 5^' >?< 7|x 7??^^j«:7|^7|s^ Tl^^n^ 

Apeil Twenty-fourth 

The green trees whispered low and mild, 

It was a sound of joy! 
They were my playmates when a child, 
And rocked me in their arms so wild ! 
Still they looked at me and smiled, 

As if I were a boy. 

Prelude, 

Apeil Twenty-fifth 

Feeling is deep and still; and the word that 

floats on the surface 
Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the 

anchor is hidden. 
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the 

world calls illusions. 

Evangeline, 

Apeil Twenty-sixth 

The dawn is not distant, 
Nor is the night starless; 
Love is eternal ! 
God is still God, and 
His faith shall not fail us; 
Christ is eternal! 

The Saga of King Olaf, 

[44] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

April Twenty-seventh 
Man-like is it to fall into sin, 
Fiend-like is it to dwell therein, 
Christ-like is it for sin to grieve, 
God-like is it all sin to leave. 

Poetic Aphorisms. 

Apuil Twenty-eighth 
Why shouldst thou hate then thy brother? 
Hateth he thee, forgive! For 'tis sweet to 

stammer one letter 
Of the Eternal's language; — on earth it is 

called Forgiveness ! 
Knowest thou Him, who forgave, with the crown 
of thorns round his temples? 

The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

April Twenty-ninth 
Come back! ye friendships long departed! 
That like o'erflowing streamlets started. 
And now are dwindled, one by one, 
To stony channels in the sun I 
Come back! ye friends, whose lives are ended! 
Come back, with all that light attended. 
Which seemed to darken and decay 
When ye arose and went away! 

The Golden Legend, 

[45] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
>j^ v?v v?v >j< >;< >^• >?< >K >?< >?^ >?^ >?< v^' >5< >?< v^ v^j w< 

April Thirtieth 

O holy Father ! pardon in me 
The oscillation of a mind 
Unsteadfast, and that cannot find 
Its centre of rest and harmony ! 
For evermore before mine eyes 
This ghastly phantom flits and flies, 
And as a madman through a crowd, 
With frantic gestures and wild cries, 
It hurries onward, and aloud 
Repeats its awful prophecies! 
Weakness is wretchedness ! To be strong 
Is to be happy ! I am weak, 
And cannot find the good I seek, 
Because I feel and fear the wrong! 

The Golden Legend, 



[46] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



MAY 

May First 

Clear was the heaven and blue, and May, with 

her cap crowned with roses, 
Stood in her holiday dress in the fields, and the 

wind and the brooklet 
Murmured gladness and peace, God's-peace! 

with lips rosy-tinted. 

The Children of the Lord's Supper. 

May Second 

In all places, then, and in all seasons. 

Flowers expand their light and soul-like 
wings. 

Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons, 
How akin they are to human things. 

And with childlike, credulous affection 
We behold their tender buds expand ; 

Emblems of our own great resurrection, 
Emblems of the bright and better land. 

Flowers. 

[47] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

May Third 
The softly-warbled song 
Comes from the pleasant woods, and colored 

wings 
Glance quick in the bright sun, that moves 
along 
The forest openings. 

An April Day, 

May Fourth 
God sent his Singers upon earth 
With songs of sadness and of mirth, 
That they might touch the hearts of men. 
And bring them back to heaven again. 

The Singers. 

May Fifth 
The great Master said, "I see 
No best in kind, but in degree ; 
I gave a various gift to each, 
To charm, to strengthen, and to teach." 

The Singers, 

May Sixth 
Let us, then, be what we are, and speak what we 

think, and in all things 
Keep ourselves loyal to truth, and the sacred 
professions of friendship. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 

[48] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

May Seventh 
Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme, 

Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay; 
Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime, 

For O ! it is not always May ! 

Enjoy the Spring of Love and Youth, 
To some good angel leave the rest, 

For Time will teach thee soon the truth, 
There are no birds in last year's nest! 
It is not always May, 

May Eighth 
The day is drawing to its close; 
And what good deeds, since first it rose, 
Have I presented. Lord, to thee, 
As offerings of my ministry? 
What wrong repressed, what right maintained, 
What struggle passed, what victory gained. 
What good attempted and attained? 

The Golden Legend, 

May Ninth 
When by night the frogs are croaking, kindle 

but a torch's fire. 

Ha! how soon they all are silent! 

Thus Truth silences the liar. 

Poetic Aphorisms, 

[49] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

May Tenth 

Ah! when the infinite burden of life descendeth 
upon us, 

Crushes to earth our hope, and, under the earth, 
in the graveyard, — 

Then it is good to pray unto God ; for his sor- 
rowing children 

Turns he ne'er from his door, but he heals and 
helps and consoles them. 
The Children of the Lord's Supper. 

May Eleventh 
And he gathers the prayers as he stands, 
And they change into flowers in his hands, 

Into garlands of purple and red ; 
And beneath the great arch of the portal. 
Through the streets of the City Lnmortal 
Is wafted the fragrance they shed. 

Sandalphon, 

May Twelfth 
Yet in this age 
We need another Hildebrand, to shake 
And purify us like a mighty wind. 
The world is wicked, and sometimes I wonder 
God does not lose his patience with it wholly, 
And shatter it like glass! 

The Golden Legend, 

[50] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

f^yf^7(s:y^-7^y^y^y(^yi< v^^ 'a< viv vix y|x y^y /|k ^^t?^ 

May Thirteenth 
Love is sunshine, hate is shadow, 
Life is checkered shade and sunshine ; 
Rule by love. 

The Song of Hiawatha. 

May Fourteenth 
Our hearts are lamps for ever burning 
With a steady and unwavering flame, 
Pointing upward, for ever the same. 
Steadily upward toward the Heaven ! 

The Golden Legend. 

May Fifteenth 
For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and 

illumines the pathway. 
Many things are made clear, that else He hidden 
in darkness. 

Evangeline. 

May Sixteenth 
How slowly through the lilac-scented air 
Descends the tranquil moon! Like thistle-down 
The vapory clouds float in the peaceful sky ; 
And sweetly from yon hollow vaults of shade 
The nightingales breathe out their souls in song. 
The Spanish Student. 

[51] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

May Seventeenth 
Alas ! we are but eddies of dust, 
Uplifted by the blast, and whirled 
Along the highway of the world 
A moment only, then to fall 
Back to a common level all, 
At the subsiding of the gust ! 

The Spanish Student, 

May Eighteenth 
Be strong ! be good ! be pure ! 
The right only shall endure. 

The Golden Legend, 

May Nineteenth 
In the furrowed land 
The toilsome and patient oxen stand; 
Lifting the yoke-encumbered head, 
With their dilated nostrils spread. 
They silently inhale 
The clover-scented gale, 
And the vapors that arise 
From the well-watered and smoking soil. 
For this rest in the furrow after toil 
Their large and lustrous eyes 
Seem to thank the Lord, 
More than man's spoken word. 

Rain in Summer, 

[62] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WJTH LONGFELLOW 

May Twentieth 
The birds sang in the thickets, 
And the streamlets laughed and glistened, 
And the air was full of fragrance. 

The Song of Hiawatha. 
May Twenty-first 

blessed Lord! how much I need 
Thy light to guide me on my way ! 
So many hands, that, without heed. 

Still touch thy wounds, and make them bleed! 
So many feet, that, day by day. 
Still wander from thy fold astray! 
LTnless thou fill me with thy light, 

1 cannot lead thy flock aright ; 
Nor, without thy support, can bear 
The burden of so great a care, 
But am myself a castaway ! 

The Golden Legend, 
May Twenty-second 
O gentle spirit! Thou didst bear unmoved 
Blasts of adversity and frosts of fate! 
But the first ray of sunshine that falls on thee 
Melts thee to tears ! O, let thy weary heart 
Lean upon mine ! and it shall faint no more. 
Nor thirst, nor hunger ; but be comforted 
And filled with my affection. 

The Spanish Stttdent, 
[53] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

May Twenty-third 
The tidal wave of deeper souls 
Into our inmost being rolls, 
And lifts us unawares 
Out of all meaner cares. 

Santa Filomena. 

May Twenty-fourth 
Let us, then, be up and doing, 
With a heart for any fate; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labor and to wait. 

A Psalm of Life, 

May Twenty-fifth 
No endeavor is in vain ; 
Its reward is in the doing. 
And the rapture of pursuing 

Is the prize the vanquished gain. 

The Wind over the Chimney. 

May Twenty-sixth 
Faith alone can interpret life, and the heart 

that aches and bleeds with the stigma 
Of pain, alone bears the likeness of Christ, and 
can comprehend its dark enigma. 

The Spanish Student, 

[54] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

?jir7j<"???:>?< y^'/iKyi<y^ y^ i^ v^ >?v >?v xjx /^^ aix /|x w^^ 

May Twenty-seventh 
Pray for the Dead! 
Why for the dead, who are at rest? 
Pray for the living, in whose breast 
The struggle between right and wrong 
Is raging terrible and strong, 
As when good angels war with devils ! 

The Golden Legend, 

May Twenty-eighth 
Better is Death than Life! Ah yes! to thou- 
sands 
Death plays upon a dulcimer, and sings 
That song of consolation, till the air 
Rings with it, and they cannot choose but follow 
Whither he leads. And not the old alone, 
But the young also hear it, and are still. 

The Golden Legend. 

May Twenty-ninth 
Think of this, O Hiawatha! 
Speak of it to all the people. 
That hence forward and forever 
They no more with lamentations 
Sadden the souls of the departed 
In the Islands of the Blessed. 

The Song of Hiawatha, 

[55] 



PROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

May Thirtieth 

Think, every morning when the sun peeps 
through 

The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove, 
How jubilant the happy birds renew 

Their old, melodious madrigals of love! 
And when you think of this, remember too 

'T is always morning somewhere, and above 
The awakening continents, from shore to shore. 
Somewhere the birds are singing evermore. 
The Birds of Killmgworth. 



May Thirty-first 

Like the swell of some sweet tune, 
Morning rises into noon. 
May glides onward into June. 

Maidenhood. 



[66] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



JUNE 

June First 

All the meadows wave with blossoms, 
All the woodlands ring with music, 
All the trees are dark with foliage. 

The Song of Hiawatha, 



June Second 

The robin and the bluebird, piping loud. 

Filled all the blossoming orchards with their 
glee. 

The sparrows chirped as if they still were proud 
Their race in Holy Writ should mentioned be; 

And hungry crows assembled in a crowd. 
Clamored their piteous prayer incessantly. 

Knowing who hears the ravens cry, and said: 

"Give us, O Lord, this day our daily bread!" 
The Birds of Killingworth, 

[57] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

June Third 
Truth from falsehood cleansed and sifted, 
Lives, like days in Summer, lengthened. 

Epimetheus, 

June Fourth 
"Blessed be God ! for he created Death" 

The mourners said, "and Death is rest and 
peace ;" 
Then added, in the certainty of faith, 

"And giveth Life that nevermore shall cease." 
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport, 

June Fifth 
Weep not, my friends! rather rejoice with me. 
I shall not feel the pain, but shall be gone, 
And you will have another friend in heaven. 
Then start not at the creaking of the door 
Through which I pass. I see what lies beyond it. 

The Golden Legend. 

June Sixth 
'T is the heaven of flowers you see there; 
All the wild-flowers of the forest. 
All the lilies of the prairie. 
When on earth they fade and perish. 
Blossom in that heaven above us. 

The Song of Hiawatha, 

[58] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

June Seventh 
There is a quiet spirit in these woods, 
That dwells where'er the gentle south wind 

blows ; 
Where, underneath the white- thorn, in the glade. 
The wild flowers bloom, or, kissing the soft air. 
The leaves above their sunny palms outspread. 
The Spirit of Poetry. 

June Eighth 
Come to me, O ye children! 

And whisper in my ear 
What the birds and the winds are singing 

In your sunny atmosphere. 

For what are all our contrivings, 

And the wisdom of our books. 
When compared with your caresses. 
And the gladness of your looks? 

Children, 
June Ninth 
My Redeemer and my Lord, 

I beseech Thee, I entreat Thee, 
Guide me in each act and word. 

That hereafter I may meet Thee, 
Watching, waiting, hoping, yearning. 
With my lamp well trimmed and burning! 
The Golden Legend, 

[59] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

y^yt<y^ V|V viv y^yj^y^ >^x x^x >^ yi\yfKy^ >?»c xjv >^ x*k 

June Tenth 
Affection never was wasted ; 
If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, 

returning 
Back to their springs, hke the rain, shall fill 
them full of refreshment. 

Evangeline, 
June Eleventh 
My soul within 
Was dark with passion and soiled with sin. 
But now its wounds are healed again ; 
Gone are the anguish, the terror, and pain ; 
For across that desolate land of woe. 
O'er whose burning sands I was forced to go, 
A wind from heaven began to blow ; 
And all my being trembled and shook, 
As the leaves of the tree, or the grass of the 

field. 
And I was healed, as the sick are healed, 
When fanned by the leaves of the Holy Book! 

The Golden Legend. 
June Twelfth 
I have read, in the marvellous heart of man, 

That strange and mystic scroll, 
That an army of phantoms vast and wan 
Beleaguer the human soul. 

The Beleaguered City. 
[60] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

June Thirteenth 

Love thou the merciful Father ! 
Wish what the Holy One wishes, and not from 
fear but affection. 
The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

June Fourteenth 
O, thou child of many prayers ! 
Life hath quicksands, — Life hath snares ! 
Care and age come unawares ! 

Maidenhood. 

June Fifteenth 
But if thou lovest, — mark me! I say lovest, 
The greatest of thy sex excels thee not ! 
The world of the affections is thy world, 
Not that of man's ambition. In that stillness 
Which most becomes a woman, calm and holy, 
Thou sittest by the fireside of the heart. 
Feeding its flame. 

The Spanish Student, 

June Sixteenth 
No one is so accursed by fate. 
No one so utterly desolate. 

But some heart, though unknown, 
Responds unto his own. 

Endymion, 

[61] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

June Seventeenth 

Let thy strong heart of steel this day 
Put on its armor for the fray. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

June Eighteenth 
All thoughts of ill ; all evil deeds, 

That have their root in thoughts of ill ; 
Whatever hinders or impedes 

The action of the nobler will; — 

All these must first be trampled down 
Beneath our feet, if we would gain 

In the bright fields of fair renown 
The right of eminent domain. 

The Ladder of St. Augustine. 

June Nineteenth 
The night is silent, the wind is still, 
The moon is looking from yonder hill 
Down upon convent, and grove, and garden; 
The clouds have passed away from her face, 
Leaving behind them no sorrowful trace, 
Only the tender and quiet grace 
Of one, whose heart has been healed with par- 
don. 

The Golden Legend. 

[62] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

June Twentieth 
Old and yet ever new, and simple and beautiful 

always, 
Love immortal and young in the endless suc- 
cession of lovers. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 

June Twenty-first 
Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, 
Who have faith in God and Nature, 
Who believe, that in all ages 
Every human heart is human. 
That in even savage bosoms 
There are longings, yearnings, strivings 
For the good they comprehend not. 
That the feeble hands and helpless. 
Groping blindly in the darkness, 
Touch God's right hand in that darkness 
And are lifted up and strengthened ; — 
Listen to this simple story, 
To this Song of Hiawatha! 

The Song of Hiawatha, 

June Twenty-second 
Upon purity and upon virtue 
Resteth the Christian Faith. 
The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

[6S] 



FEOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

June Twenty-third 
I hear the wind among the trees 
Playing celestial symphonies; 
I see the branches downward bent, 
Like keys of some great instrument. 
A Day of Sunshine, 

June Twenty-fourth 
Sail forth into the sea of life, 
O gentle, loving, trusting wife, 
And safe from all adversity 
Upon the bosom of that sea 
Thy comings and thy goings be ! 

The Building of the Ship. 

June Twenty-fifth 
Bear through sorrow, wrong, and ruth. 
In thy heart the dew of youth. 
On thy lips the smile of truth. 

Maidenhood, 

June Twenty-sixth 
For gentleness and love and trust 
Prevail o'er angry wave and gust ; 
And in the wreck of noble lives 
Something immortal still survives! 

The Building of the Ship. 

[64] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

June Twenty-seventh 
This was the wedding morn of Priscllla the 

Puritan maiden. 
Friends were assembled together ; the Elder and 

Magistrate also 
Graced the scene with their presence, and stood 

like the Law and the Gospel, 
One with the sanction of earth and one with the 
blessing of Heaven. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish. 
June Twenty-eighth 
An odor of innocence, and of prayer, 
And of love, and faith that never fails, 
Such as the fresh young heart exhales. 

The Golden Legend, 
June Twenty-ninth 
And this is the sweet spirit, that doth fill 
The world; and, in these wayward days of 

youth. 
My busy fancy oft embodies it, 
As a bright image of the light and beauty 
That dwell in nature, — of the heavenly forms 
We worship in our dreams, and the soft hues 
That stain the wild bird's wing, and flush the 

clouds 
When the sun sets. 

The Spirit of Poetry, 
[65] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

June Thirtieth 

I shot an arrow into the air, 
It fell to earth, I knew not where ; 
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight 
Could not follow it in its flight. 

I breathed a song into the air, 
It fell to earth, I knew not where ; 
For who has sight so keen and strong, 
That it can follow the flight of song? 

Long, long afterward, in an oak 
I found the arrow, still unbroke ; 
And the song, from beginning to end, 
I found again in the heart of a friend. 
The Arroxv and the Song, 



[66] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



JULY 

July First 
Like unto ships far off at sea, 
Outward or homeward bound, are we. 

The Building of the Ship, 

July Second 
Before, behind, and all around, 
Floats and swings the horizon's bound, 
Seems at its distant rim to rise 
And climb the crystal wall of the skies. 
And then again to turn and sink, 
As if we could slide from its outer brink. 
The Building of the Ship, 

July Third 
Ah! it is not the sea, 
It is not the sea that sinks and shelves. 
But ourselves 
That rock and rise 
With endless and uneasy motion, 
Now touching the very skies. 
Now sinking into the depths of ocean. 

The Building of the Ship, 

[67] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

T^yfi^yfKy^y^y^ y^ >l«r>iv y^'K y^ y^K yfn yt< y^ y^yf^yfi: 

July Fourth 
Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 
In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 
In spite of false lights on the shore, 
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. 
The Building of the Ship. 

July Fifth 
Peace ! and no longer from its brazen portals 
The blast of War's great organ shakes the 
skies ! 
But beautiful as songs of the immortals, 
The holy melodies of love arise. 

The Arsenal at Springfield, 

July Sixth 
All things above were bright and fair. 

All things were glad and free; 
Lithe squirrels darted here and there. 
And wild birds filled the echoing air 
With songs of Liberty! 

The Slave in the Dismal Swamp, 

July Seventh 
God is just ; and finally justice 
Triumphs. 

Evangeline, 

[68] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

July Eighth 
Labor with what zeal we will, 

Something still remains undone, 
Something uncompleted still 
Waits the rising of the sun. 

Something Left Undone. 

July Ninth 
Our little lives are kept in equipoise 
By opposite attractions and desires ; 
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys, 
And the more noble instinct that aspires. 

These perturbations, this perpetual jar 
Of earthly wants and aspirations high. 

Come from the influence of an unseen star, 
An undiscovered planet in our sky. 

Haunted Houses, 

July Tenth 
Cross against corslet, 
Love against hatred, 
Peace-cry for war-cry! 
Patience is powerful; 
He that o'ercometh 
Hath power o'er the nations ! 

The Saga of King Olaf, 

[69] 



PROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

July Eleventh 
Thou whose heart 
Is like a nest of singing birds 
Rocked on the topmost bough of life, 
Wilt thou, too, from our sky depart, 
And in the clangour of the strife 
Mingle the music of thy words? 

The Golden Legend, 

July Twelfth 
The spirit-world around this world of sense 

Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere 
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapors 
dense 
A vital breath of more ethereal air. 

Haunted Houses. 

July Thirteenth 
When the hours of Day are numbered, 

And the voices of the Night 
Wake the better soul, that slumbered, 

To a holy, calm delight; 

Then the forms of the departed 

Enter at the open door ; 
The beloved, the true-hearted. 

Come to visit me once more. 

Footsteps of Angels. 

[70] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

July Fourteenth 
Friends my soul with joy remembers! 

How like quivering flames they start. 
When I fan the living embers 

On the hearth-stone of my heart! 

To the River Charles, 
July Fifteenth 
And, falling on my weary brain, 

Like a fast-falling shower, 
The dreams of youth came back again, 
Low lispings of the summer rain, 
Dropping on the ripened grain. 

As once upon the flower Prelude. 

July Sixteenth 
Memory brightens o'er the past, 

As when the sun, concealed 
Behind some cloud that near us hangs. 
Shines on a distant field. 

A Gleam of Sunshine. 
July Seventeenth 
O precious hours ! O golden prime. 
And affluence of love and time ! 
Even as a miser counts his gold. 
Those hours the ancient timepiece told, — 
"Forever — never ! 
Never — forever !" 

The Old Cloch on the Stairs, 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

July Eighteenth 

Hope, the befriending, 
Does what she can, for she points evermore up 
to Heaven. 
The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

July Nineteenth 
Feeble, at best, is my endeavor ! 
I see, but cannot reach, the height 
That hes forever In the light, 
And yet forever and forever. 
When seeming just within my grasp, 
I feel my feeble hands unclasp, 
And sink discouraged into night ! 
For thine own purpose, thou hast sent 
The strife and the discouragement ! 

The Golden Legend. 
July Twentieth 

We have not wings, we cannot soar ; 
But we have feet to scale and climb 

By slow degrees, by more and more, 
The cloudy summits of our time. 

The mighty pyramids of stone 

That wedge-like cleave the desert airs. 
When nearer seen, and better known, 
Are but gigantic flights of stairs. 

The Ladder of St. Augustine. 
[72] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

y^y$Ky^yiKy^yfK y^ y^y^K y^K v^ y^ y^ v;y -T^y^y^yfK 

July Twenty-first 

Clear fount of light ! my native land on high 
Bright with a glory that shall never fade ! 
Mansion of truth ! without a veil or shade, 
Thy holy quiet meets the spirit's eye. 

The Native Land. 

July Twenty-second 

Will ye promise me here, (a holy promise!) to 
cherish 

God more than all things earthly, and every 
man as a brother? 

Will ye promise me here, to confirm your faith 
by your living, 

Th' heavenly faith of affection ! to hope, to for- 
give, and to suffer. 

Be what it may your condition, and walk before 
God in uprightness? 

The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

July Twenty-third 

Hast thou e'er reflected 
How much lies hidden in that one word, now? 
Yes ; all the awful mystery of Life ! 

The Spanish Student, 

[73] 



FEOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

July Twenty-fourth 
holy Night ! from thee I learn to bear 

What man has borne before! 
Thou la jest thy finger on the lips of Care, 
And they complain no more. 

Hymn to the Night* 

July Twenty-fifth 
Have pity, Lord ! let penitence 
Atone for disobedience, 
Nor let the fruit of man's offence 
Be endless misery ! 

The Golden Legend, 

July Twenty-sixth 
O, weary hearts ! O, slumbering eyes ! 
O, drooping souls, whose destinies 
Are fraught with fear and pain, 
Ye shall be loved again ! 

Endymton, 

July Twenty-seventh 
Then shall the good stand in immortal bloom, 

In the fair gardens of that second birth ; 
And each bright blossom, mingle its perfume 
With that of flowers, which never bloomed 
on earth. 

God's Acre. 

[74] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
>j< >j< >j< >^ v^ viv >iy 7?«: >?^ v?< v?< v^ v?»i >T< v?< >?< v?< v?< 

July Twenty-eighth 

Bright rose the sun next day ; and all the flow- 
ers of the garden 

Bathed his shining feet with their tears, and an- 
ointed his tresses 

With the delicious balm that they bore in their 
vases of crystal. 

Evangeline, 

July Twenty-ninth 

O gift of God ! O perfect day : 
Whereon shall no man work, but play ; 
Whereon it is enough for me, 
Not to be doing, but to be ! 

A Day of Sunshine, 

July Thietieth 

For there are moments in life, when the heart is 

so full of emotion. 
That if by chance it be shaken, or into its 

depths like a pebble 
Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its 

secret. 
Spilt on the ground like water, can never be 

gathered together. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 

[75] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

T^y^'AK'j^y^w^KA'^yi^ yf< >*< >^^ '^if^ >>^ >i^ ^♦'^ -'i^ ^*^ >l^ 

July Thirty-first 

Now to the sunset 
Again hast thou brought us ; 
And, seeing the evening 
Twihght, we bless thee, 
Praise thee, adore thee ! 

Father omnipotent! 
Son, the Life-giver ! 
Spirit, the Comforter! 
Worthy at all times 
Of worship and wonder ! 

The Golden Legend. 



[76] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

>?^>?*r>?ir yfi. >j*c y^y^y^y^*. y(K x^x x^ >ix >^ yjv v?^ -^ x*x 



AUGUST 



August First 

Come to me, O ye children ! 

For I hear you at your play, 
And the questions that perplexed me 

Have vanished quite away. 

Children. 



August Second 

What the leaves are to the forest, 
With light and air for food, 

Ere their sweet and tender juices 
Have been hardened into wood, — 

That to the world are children ; 

Through them it feels the glow 
Of a brighter and sunnier climate 

Than reaches the trunks below. 

Children, 

[77] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

August Thied 

All things rejoice in youth and love, 
The fulness of their first delight. 

It is not always May, 

August Fourth 

Childhood is the bough, where slumbered 
Birds and blossoms many-numbered ; — 
Age, that bough with snows encumbered. 

Maidenhood, 

August Fifth 

Tell me, — the charms that lovers seek 
In the clear eye and blushing cheek, 
The hues that play 
O'er rosy lip and brow of snow. 
When hoary age approaches slow. 
Ah, where are they? 

Coplas de Manrique. 

August Sixth 

Never grow old, nor change, nor pass away 
Your gentle voices will flow on for ever, 

When life grows bare and tarnished with decay. 
As through a leafless landscape flows a river. 

Dedication, 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

August Seventh 
A millstone and the human heart are driven ever 

round ; 
If they have nothing else to grind, they must 
themselves be ground. 

Poetic Aphorisms, 

August Eighth 
Air, — I want air, and sunshine, and blue sky. 
The feeling of the breeze upon my face, 
The feeling of the turf beneath my feet, 
And no walls but the far-off mountain tops. 
Then I am free and strong, — once more myself. 
The Spanish Student. 

August Ninth 
The evening air grows dusk and brown; 
I must go forth into the town, 
To visit beds of pain and death. 
Of restless limbs, and quivering breath, 
And sorrowing hearts, and patient eyes 
That see, through tears, the sun go down, 
But nevermore shall see it rise. 
The poor in body and estate. 
The sick and the disconsolate, 
Must not on man's convenience wait. 

The Golden Legend, 

[79]* 



FEOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

y^y:tKy^y^y^yfKyiKyiKy^yp^y^ V4V v^y hv v^v vi< '/^ v|y 

August Tenth 
Above thy head, through rifted clouds, there 

shines 
A glorious star. Be patient. Trust thy star! 
The Spanish Student. 
August Eleventh 
O star of strength! I see thee stand 

And smile upon my pain ; 
Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand, 

And I am strong again. 
The star of the unconquered will. 

He rises in my breast, 
Serene, and resolute, and still. 
And calm, and self-possessed. 

The Light of Stars, 
August Twelfth 
The moon was pallid, but not faint. 
And beautiful as some fair saint. 
Serenely moving on her way 
In hours of trial and dismay. 
As if she heard the voice of God, 
Unharmed with naked feet she trod 
Upon the hot and burning stars, 
As on the glowing coals and bars 
That were to prove her strength, and try 
Her holiness and her purity. 

The Occultation of Orion, 
[80] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

August Thirteenth 
Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, 

God hath written in those stars above; 
But not less in the bright flowerets under us 
Stands the revelation of his love. 

Flowers. 

August Fourteenth 
Love is the Holy Ghost within ; 
Hate, the unpardonable sin ! 
Who preaches otherwise than this. 
Betrays his Master with a kiss ! 

Christus — First Interlude. 

August Fifteenth 
Big words do not smite like war-clubs, 
Boastful breath is not a bow-string, 
Taunts are not so sharp as arrows. 
Deeds are better things than words are, 
Actions mightier than boastings ! 

The Song of Hiawatha, 

August Sixteenth 
Works do follow us all unto God ; there stand 

and bear witness 
Not what they seemed, — ^but what they were 
only. 

The Children of the Lord's Supper. 

[81] 



PROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

i*^x x|»k x^x >*j»k >j»k >^ >|»c >^>j»c>^ >j«^ >j«i; y^y^ yfn: i^i^yf^ 

August Seventeenth 
O suffering, sad humanity! 
O ye afflicted ones, who lie 
Steeped to the lips in misery, 
Longing, and yet afraid to die, 
Patient, though sorely tried ! 

The Goblet of Life. 

August Eighteenth 
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 

Is our destined end or way; 
But to act, that each to-morrow 

Find us farther than to-day. 

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, 

And our hearts, though stout and brave. 

Still like muffled drums, are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave. 

A Psalm of Life. 

August Nineteenth 
Angels of Life and Death alike are his ; 

Without his leave they pass no threshold 
o'er; 
Who, then, would wish or dare, believing this, 
Against his messengers to shut the door.? 

The Two Angels, 

[82] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

yi<i. >i<i. '/(<K yf< y^ 7?<r??^7?ir7'iv y;v viv vik a< v^v y^y;<y;<y^ 

August Twentieth 

Hope, — so is called upon earth, his recompense, 

— Hope, the befriending, 
Does what she can, for she points evermore up 

to heaven, and faithful 
Plunges her anchor's peak in the depths of the 

grave, and beneath it 
Paints a more beautiful world, a dim, but a 

sweet play of shadows ! 

The Children of the Lord's Supper. 

August Twenty-first 

When Christ ascended 
Triumphantly, from star to star, 
He left the gates of heaven ajar. 

The Golden Legend. 

August Twenty-second 

O my Saviour, I beseech thee, 

Even as thou hast died for me, 

More sincerely 

Let me follow where thou leadest, 

Let me, bleeding as thou bleedest, 

Die, if dying I may give 

Life to one who asks to live. 

The Golden Legend, 

[83] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

August Twenty-third 

Oh fear not in a world like this, 
And thou shalt know erelong, 

Know how sublime a thing it is 
To suffer and be strong. 

The Light of Stars, 

August Twenty-fourth 

Each man's chimney is his Golden Mile-stone, 
Is the central point, from which he measures 

Every distance 
Through the gateways of the world around him. 
The Golden Mile-stone. 

August Twenty-fifth 

O thou sculptor, painter, poet! 

Take this lesson to thy heart: 
That is best which lieth nearest; 

Shape from that thy work of art. 

Gaspar Becerra. 

August Twenty-sixth 

If any thought of mine, or sung, or told, 
Has ever given delight or consolation. 

Ye have repaid me back a thousandfold, 
By every friendly sign and salutation. 

Dedication, 

[84] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

August Twenty-seventh 
Forth from the curtain of clouds, from the tent 

of purple and scarlet, 
Issued the sun, the great High-Priest, in his 

garments resplendent. 
Holiness unto the Lord, in letters of light, on 
his forehead. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 

August Twenty-eighth 
How beautiful it is ! Fresh fields of wheat. 
Vineyard, and town, and tower with fluttering 

flag. 
The consecrated chapel on the crag, 
And the white hamlet gathered round its base, 
Like Mary sitting at her Saviour's feet. 
And looking up at his beloved face ! 
O friend ! O best of friends ! Thy absence more 
Than the impending night darkens the land- 
scape o'er! 

The Golden Lege7id. 

August Twenty-ninth 
Yet in thy heart what human sympathies, 
What soft compassion glows, as in the skies 
The tender stars their clouded lamps relume ! 

Dante, 

[85] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

August Thirtieth 

All about 
The broad, sweet sunshine lay without, 
Filling the summer air. 

The Golden Legend, 

August Thirty-first 

Whither, thou turbid wave 
Whither, with so much haste, 
As if a thief wert thou? 

I am the Wave of Life, 
Stained with my margin's dust ; 
From the struggle and the strife 
Of the narrow stream I fly 
To the Sea's immensity, 
To wash from me the slime 
Of the muddy banks of Time. 

The Wave, 



[86] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



SEPTEMBER 

September First 

Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain, 
With banners, by great gales incessant fanned. 
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand, 
And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain ! 
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne, 
Upon thy bridge of gold ; thy royal hand 
Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land. 

Autumn. 



September Second 

The morrow was a bright September morn ; 
The earth was beautiful as if new-born ; 
There was that nameless splendor everywhere. 
That wild exhilaration In the air, 
Which makes the passers in the city street 
Congratulate each other as they meet. 

The Falcon of Ser Federigo, 

[8T] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

>j^ >;v: >^ >^x >j^ >;■*: >;^ "?;<: >l^ >;^ ^ 7?^ 7^ >jK >?^ >j? >j^~5j5" 

September Third 

Forth into the forest straightway 
All alone walked Hiawatha 
Proudly, with his bow and arrows ; 
And the birds sang round him, o'er him, 
"Do not shoot us, Hiawatha 1" 
Sang the robin, the Opechee, 
Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa, 
"Do not shoot us, Hiawatha !" 

The Song of Hiawatha. 

September Fourth 

You call them thieves and pillagers ; but know 
They are the winged wardens of your farms, 

Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe, 
And from your harvests keep a hundred 
harms ; 

Even the blackest of them all, the crow. 

Renders good service as your man-at-arms, 

Crushing the beetle in his coat of mail. 

And crying havoc on the slug and snail. 

The Birds of Killingworth, 

September Fifth 
0, had I faith, as in the days gone by. 
That knew no doubt, and feared no mystery ! 
The Golden Legend, 
[88] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

September Sixth 

In this false world, we do not always know 
Who are our friends and who our enemies. 
We all have enemies, and all need friends. 
The Spanish Student. 

September Seventh 

Muse of all the Gifts and Graces ! 

Though the fields around us wither, 
There are ampler realms and spaces, 
Where no foot has left its traces ; 

Let us turn and wander thither ! 

Epimetheus, 

September Eighth 

Welcome, my old friend. 
Welcome to a foreign fireside, 
While the sullen gales of autumn 
Shake the windows. 

To an Old Danish Song-Book. 

September Ninth 

Let me but hear thy voice, and I am happy ; 
For every tone, like some sweet incantation 
Calls up the buried past to plead for me. 

The Spanish Student. 

[89] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

September Tenth 
Golden visions wave and hover, 
Golden vapors, waters streaming, 
Landscapes moving, changing, gleaming! 
I am like a happy lover 
Who illumines life with dreaming ! 

The Golden Legend, 

September Eleventh 
We spake of many a vanished scene, 
Of what we once had thought and said, 
Of what had been, and might have been, 
And who was changed, and who was dead ; 

And all that fills the hearts of friends, 
When first they feel, with secret pain. 
Their lives henceforth have separate ends, 
And never can be one again. 

The Fire of Drift-wood, 

September Twelfth 
Kind messages, that pass from land to land ; 
Kind letters, that betray the heart's deep his- 
tory, 
In which we feel the pressure of a hand, — 
One touch of fire, — and all the rest is mys- 
tery! 

Dedication, 

[90] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

yii^ j^ 1^ j^ j^ yfK j^ yfK -j^ -j^ 

September Thirteenth 
We may build more splendid habitaticms, 
Fill our rooms with paintings and with sculp- 
tures, 

But we cannot 
Buy with gold the old associations ! 

The Golden Mile-stone. 
September Fourteenth 
Somewhat back from the village street 
Stands the old-fashioned country-seat. 
Across its antique portico 
Tall poplar-trees their shadows throw 
And from its station in the hall 
An ancient timepiece says to all, — 
"Forever — never ! 
Never — forever !" 

The Old Clock on the Stairs. 
September Fifteenth 
Down through the golden leaves the sun was 

pouring his splendors, 
Gleaming on purple grapes, that, from 

branches above them suspended, 
Mingled their odorous breath with the balm of 

the pine and the fir-tree, 
Wild and sweet as the clusters that grew in the 
valley of Eshcol. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 
[91] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

j^y^'A^y^KWitK y^^y^y^y^y^K -^y^ -^ j^ y^ -^ y^ w^k 

September Sixteenth 
Saint Augustine ! well hast thou said, 

That of our vices we can frame 
A ladder, if we will but tread 

Beneath our feet each deed of shame ! 

The Ladder of St. Augustme, 

September Seventeenth 
In the world's broad field of battle, 

In the bivouac of Life, 
Be not like dumb, driven cattle ; 

Be a hero in the strife ! 

A Psalm of Life. 

September Eighteenth 
In that hour of deep contrition, 
He beheld, with clearer vision, 
Through all outward show and fashion, 
Justice, the Avenger, rise. 

The Norman Baron, 

September Nineteenth 
Nor deem the irrevocable Past 

As wholly wasted, wholly vain. 
If, rising on Its wrecks, at last. 
To something nobler we attain. 

The Ladder of St. Augustme, 

[92] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

September Twentieth 

Deny 
The tempter, though his power is strong, 
And, inaccessible to wrong. 
Still like a martyr live and die! 

The Golden Legend. 
September Twenty-first 
And though at times impetuous with emotion 

And anguish long suppressed, 
The swelling heart heaves moaning like the 
ocean. 
That cannot be at rest, — 

We will be patient, and assuage the feeling 

We may not wholly stay ; 
By silence sanctifying, not concealing, 

The grief that must have way. 

Resignation, 
September Twenty-second 
From the barred visor of Antiquity 
Reflected shines the eternal light of Truth, 
As from a mirror ! All the means of action — 
The shapeless masses — the materials — 
Lie everywhere about us. What we need 
Is the celestial fire to change the flint 
Into transparent crystal, bright and clear. 
That fire is genius ! The Spanish Student. 
[93] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

T^f^rff^r^^ y^K yf^ yiK v^' TTsr-^ y^ y^ >^ >?< yf^y^^^ff^y^^r?^ 

September Twenty-third 
The thought of my short-comings in this life 
Falls like a shadow on the life to come. 

The Golden Legend, 
September Twenty-fourth 
The pleasures and delights, which mask 
In treacherous smiles hfe's serious task, 
What are they, all, 
But the fleet coursers of the chase. 
And death an ambush in the race, 
Wherein we fall? 

No foe, no dangerous pass, we heed. 
Brook no delay, — but onward speed 
With loosened rein ; 
And, when the fatal snare is near, 
We strive to check our mad career, 
But strive in vain. 

Coplas de Manrique. 
September Twenty-fifth 
Knowest thou Him, who forgave, with the crown 

of thorns round his temples? 
Earnestly prayed for his foes, for his murder- 
ers? Say, dost thou know him? 
Ah! thou confessest his name, so follow like- 
wise his example. 
The Children of the Lord's Supper, 
[94 J 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

jffsrff^y^ MfK Mi\ XfK y(Ky^j^^\ xiV x;v y^y >;y y^ y^ l^y^T^ 

September Twenty-sixth 
Not in the clamour of the crowded street, 
Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, 
But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat. 

The Poet, 

September Twenty-seventh 
Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 
'Tis of the wave and not the rock ; 
'Tis but the flapping of the sail. 
And not a rent made by the gale ! 

The Building of the Ship, 

September Twenty-eighth 
Lead me to mercy's ever-flowing fountains ; 
For thou my shepherd, guard, and guide 

shalt be. 
I will obey thy voice, and wait to see 
Thy feet all beautiful upon the mountains. 

The Good Shepherd, 

September Twenty-ninth 
Down goes the sun! 
But the soul of one, 
Who by repentance 
Has escaped the dreadful sentence, 
Shines bright below me as I look. 

The Golden Legend, 

[95] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

September Thirtieth 
All sounds were in harmony blended. 
Voices of children at play, the crowing of cocks 

in the farm-yards, 
Whir of wings in the drowsy air, and the cooing 

of pigeons, 
All were subdued and low as the murmurs of 

love, and the great sun 
Looked with the eye of love through the golden 

vapors around him ; 
While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet 

and yellow, 
Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glitter- 
ing tree of the forest 
Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian adorned 

with mantles and jewels. 

Evangeline, 



[96] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



OCTOBER 

October First 
There is a beautiful spirit breathing now 
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees, 
And, from a beaker full of richest dyes, 
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods. 
And dipping in warm light the pillared clouds. 

Autumn. 

October Second 
O what a glory doth this world put on 
For him who, with a fervent heart, goes forth 
Under the bright and glorious sky, and looks 
On duties well performed, and days well spent! 

Autumn. 

October Third 
For him the wind, ay, and the yellow leaves 
Shall have a voice, and give him eloquent teach- 
ings. 
He shall so hear the solemn hymn, that Death 
Has lifted up for all, that he shall go 
To his long resting-place without a tear. 

Autumn. 
[97] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

October Fourth 
Over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline 

heaven, 
Like the protecting hand of God. 

Evangeline. 

October Fifth 
Upward steals the life of man, 
As the sunshine from the wall. 
From the wall into the sky, 

From the roof along the spire ; 
Ah, the souls of those that die 
Are but sunbeams lifted higher. 

The Golden Legend, 

October Sixth 
Think not the struggle that draws near 
Too terrible for man, — nor fear 
To meet the foe ; 
Nor let thy noble spirit grieve, 
Its life of glorious fame to leave 
On earth below. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

October Seventh 
Why deck the flesh, — the sensual slave of sin, 
And leave in rags the immortal guest within? 

The Soul. 

[98] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

October Eighth 
Be still, sad heart ! and cease repining ; 
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining ; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary. 

The Rainy Day. 

October Ninth 

Patience and abnegation of self, and devotion 
to others. 

This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow 
had taught her. 

So was her love diffused, but, like to some odor- 
ous spices, 

Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the 
air with aroma. 

Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but 
to follow 

Meekly, with reverent steps, the sacred feet of 
her» Saviour. Evangeline, 

October Tenth 
How many lives, made beautiful and sweet 
By self-devotion and by self-restraint, 
Whose pleasure is to run without complaint 
On unknown errands of the Paraclete. 

Giotto's Tower. 

[99] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

October Eleventh 
Morn on the mountain, like a summer bird, 
Lifts up her purple wing, and in the vales 
The gentle wind, a sweet and passionate wooer, 
Kisses the blushing leaf, and stirs up life, 
Within the solemn woods of ash deep-crim- 
soned. 
And silver beech, and maple yellow-leaved, 
Where autumn, like a faint old man, sits down 
By the wayside a-weary. Autumn, 

October Twelfth 
Could we new charms to age impart, 
And fashion with a cunning art 
The human face. 

As we can clothe the soul with light, 
And make the glorious spirit bright 
With heavenly grace. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

October Thirteenth 
This rustic seat in the old apple-tree. 
With its o'erhanging golden canopy 
Of leaves illuminate with autumnal hues, 
And shining with the argent light of dews, 
Shall for a season be our place of rest. 

To a Child. 

[100] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

y^y^Kii^ vjv y^ vjv y^ yi^y^y^ >iv >^ y?v >^ i*^ x^ x^ x^ 

October Fourteenth 
The poor too often turn away unheard 
From hearts that shut against them with a 

sound 
That will be heard in heaven. Pray, tell me 

more 
Of your adversities. 

The Spanish Student, 

October Fifteenth 
Now if my act be good, as I believe, 
It cannot be recalled. It is already 
Sealed* up in heaven, as a good deed accom- 
plished. The Golden Legend, 

October Sixteenth 
But the good deed through the ages 
Living in historic pages. 
Brighter grows and gleams immortal, 
Unconsumed by moth or rust. 

The Norman Baron, 

October Seventeenth 
Thanks for the sympathies that ye have shown ! 
Thanks for each kindly word, each silent token. 
That teaches me, when seeming most alone, 
Friends are around us, though no word be 
spoken. Dedication, 

[101] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

October Eighteenth 
It was Autumn, and incessant 

Piped the quails from shocks and sheaves, 
And, like living coals, the apples 

Burned among the withering leaves. 

Pegasus in Pound. 
October Nineteenth 
Blessing the farms through all thy vast do- 
main, 
Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended 
So long beneath, the heavens' o'erhanging eaves, 
Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers at- 
tended ; 
Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves ; 
And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid, 
Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden 
leaves ! Autumin. 

October Twentieth 
But hark ! the bells are beginning to chime ; 
For the bells themselves are the best of preach- 
ers, 
Their brazen lips are learned teachers. 
From their pulpits of stone, in the upper air, 
Sounding aloft, without crack or flaw. 
Shriller than, trumpets under the Law, 
Now a sermon and now a prayer. 

The Golden Legend, 
[ 102 ] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

v^y^y^ x*x inf< y<K y^ >?ry;y ^jv y|v y;v v^i >?<>?<>?< >5^ >K 

October Twenty-first 
The clangorous hammer is the tongue, 
This. way, that way, beaten and swung. 
And above it the great cross-beam of wood 
Representeth the Holy Rood, 
Upon which, like the bell, our hopes are hung. 
And the> wheel wherewith it is swayed and rung 
Is the mind of man, that round and round 
Sways, and maketh the tongue to sound ! 
And the rope, with, its twisted cordage three, 
Denoteth the- Scriptural Trinity 
Of Morals, and Symbols, and History ; 
And the upward and downward motions show 
That we touch upon matters high and low. 

The Golden Legend. 

October Twenty-second 
And, loving still these quaint old themes, 

Even in the city's throng 
I feel the freshness of the streams. 
That, crossed by shades and sunny gleams, 
Water the green land of dreams. 

The holy land of song. Prelude, 

October Twenty-third 

All dear recollections 
Pressed in my heart, hke flowers within a book. 
The Spanish Student, 
[103] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

October Twenty-fourth 
Let me review the scene, 
And summon from the shadowy Past 
The forms that once have been. 

A Gleam of Sunshine. 

October Twenty-fifth 
Walking here, in twilight, O my friends ! 

I hear your voices, softened by the distance, 
And pause, and turn to listen, as each sends 
His words of friendship, comfort, and assist- 
ance. Dedication, 

October Twenty-sixth 
There is no light in earth or heaven, 

But the cold light of stars ; 
And the first watch of night is given 
To the red planet Mars. 

The Light of Stars, 

October Twenty-seventh 

I am the minister of Mars, 
The strongest star among the stars ! 

My s-ongs of power prelude 
The march and battle of man's life, 
And for the suffering and the strife, 
I give him Fortitude ! 

The Golden Legend, 

[104] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
v/fKyfKyfKVfK >j< y^K vfK •/(ir0^y^ >?v v^ y^K VfK yfK x^ ^x y^ 

October Twenty-eighth 

When thou smilest, mj beloved, 
Then my troubled heart is brightened 
As in sunshine gleam the ripples 
That the cold wind makes in rivers. 

The- Song' of Hiawatha. 

October Twenty-ninth 

My life, alas! is what thou seest! 

O enviable fate! to be 

Strong, beautiful, and armed like thee 

With lyre and sword, with song and steel ; 

A hand to smite, a heart to feel ! 

Thy heart, thy hand, thy lyre, thy sword, 

Thou givest all unto thy Lord ! 

While I, so mean and abject grown, 

Am thinking of myself alone. 

The Golden Legend, 

October Thirtieth 

Filled is Life's goblet to the brim ; 
And though my eyes with tears are dim, 
I see its sparkHng bubbles swim. 
And chant a melancholy hymn 
With solemn voice and slow. 

The Gohlet of Life. 

[105] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

October Thirty-first 

Come, read to me some poem, 
Some simple and heartfelt lay, 

That shall soothe this restless feeling, 
And banish the thoughts of day. 

Such songs have power to quiet 

The restless pulse of care, 
And come like the benediction 

That follows after prayer. 

And the night shall be filled with music, 
And the cares, that infest the day. 

Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, 
And as silently steal away. 

The Day is Done, 



[106] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



NOVEMBER 



November First 

With a sober gladness the old year takes up 
His bright inheritance of golden fruits. 

Autumn, 



November Second 

This is the forest primeval. The murmuring 
pines and the hemlocks, 

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, in- 
distinct in the twilight, 

Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and 
prophetic. 

Stand Hke- harpers hoar, with beards that rest 
on their bosoms. 

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced 
neighboring ocean 

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the 
wail of the forest. 

Evangeline, 

[107] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

>j< >l«c >?vv^ yjK V|v viv viv viv yiv yiv y^v y|y y^v y^v yjv y|v y^ 

November Third 
All the air was full of freshness, 
All the earth was bright and joyous. 

The Song of Hiawatha, 

November Fourth 
Between the dark and the daylight, 

When the night is beginning to lower, 
Comes a pause in the day's occupations, 

That is known as the Children's Hour. 

I hear in the chamber above me 

The patter of little feet, 
The sound of a door that is opened. 

And voices soft and sweet. 

The Children's Hour. 

November Fifth 
In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine, 

In your thoughts the brooklet's flow. 
But in mine is the wind of Autumn, 
And the first fall of the snow. 

Children. 

November Sixth 
Happy art thou, as if every day thou hadst 
picked up a horseshoe. 

Evangeline. 

[108] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

November Seventh 
Maiden ! with the meek, brown eyes 
In whose orbs a shadow Hes 
Like the dusk in evening skies ! 

Thou whose locks outshine the sun, 
Golden tresses, wreathed in one, 
As the braided streamlets run! 

Standing, with reluctant feet. 
Where the brook and river meet, 
Womanhood and childhood fleet! 

Maidenhood, 

November Eighth 
More hearts are breaking in this world of ours 
Than one would say. In distant villages 
And solitudes remote, where winds have wafted 
The barbed seeds of love, or birds of passage 
Scattered them in their flight, do they take root. 
And grow in silence, and in silence perish. 
Who hears the falling of the forest leaf.? 
Or who takes note of every flower that dies? 
The Spanish Student, 

November Ninth 
There is no wound Christ cannot heal ! 

The Golden Legend. 

[109] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

November Tenth 
What I most prize in woman 
Is her affections, not her intellect ! 
The intellect is finite ; but the affections 
Are infinite, and cannot be exhausted. 

The Spanish Student, 

November Eleventh 

But as he warmed and glowed, in his simple and 
eloquent language, 

Quite forgetful of self, and full of the praise of 
his rival. 

Archly the maiden smiled, and, with eyes over- 
running with laughter. 

Said, in a tremulous voice, "Why don't you 
speak for yourself, John?" 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 

November Twelfth 
But Hope no longer 
Comforts my soul. I am a wretched man, 
Much like a poor and shipwrecked mariner, 
Who, struggling to cHmb up into the boat. 
Has both his bruised and bleeding hands cut off, 
And sinks again into the weltering sea, 
Helpless and hopeless ! 

The Spanish Student, 

[110] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

>j«t 'f^y^y^K v?v v^v 'j^yiKWiK'j^^ y^y y^ y^ y^K y^ y^K y^ y^ 

November Thirteenth 
All around him was calm, but within him com- 
motion and conflict, 
Love contending with friendship, and self with 
each generous impulse. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish, 

November Fourteenth 
As unto the bow the cord is, 
So unto the man is woman: 
Though she bends him, she obeys him, 
Though she draws him, yet she follows, 
Useless each without the other ! 

The Song of Hiawatha. 

November Fifteenth 
It has been truly said by some wise man, 
That money, grief, and love cannot be hidden. 
The Spanish Student. 

November Sixteenth 
The Planet Mercury, whose place 
Is nearest to the sun in space. 

Is my allotted sphere! 
And with celestial ardour swift 
I bear upon my hands the gift 

Of heavenly Prudence here ! 

The Golden Legend, 

[111] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

November Seventeenth 
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary ; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary ; 
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past, 
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, 
And the days are dark and dreary. 

Th€ Rainy Day, 

November Eighteenth 
The day is done ; and slowly from the scene 
The stooping sun upgathers his spent shafts, 
And puts them back into his golden quiver ! 
Below me in the valley, deep and green 
As goblets are, from which in thirsty draughts 
We drink its wine, the swift and mantling river 
Flows on triumphant through these lovely re- 
gions. 
Etched with the shadows of its sombre margent, 
And soft, reflected clouds of gold and argent ! 

The Golden Legend. 

November Nineteenth 
This goblet, wrought with curious art. 
Is filled with waters, that upstart. 
When the deep fountains of the heart, 
By strong convulsions rent apart. 
Are running all to waste. 

The Goblet of Life. 

[112] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 
y^yfKy;fy^y^y:^y^yis:y^yii:7^yfK v^i. -/^ y^ >?< -^ yfi. 

November Twentieth 
Now be strong, be strong, my heart ! 

The Spanish Student. 
November Twenty-first 
Even as rivulets twain, from distant and sep- 
arate sources, 
Rush together at last, at their trysting-place 

in the forest; 
So these lives that had run thus far in separate 

channels. 
Coming in sight of each other, then swerving 

and flowing asunder, 
Parted by barriers strong, but drawing nearer 

and nearer. 
Rushed together at last, and one was lost in 
the other. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish. 
November Twenty-second 
Thus It is our daughters leave us, 
Those we love, and those who love us ! 
Just when they have learned to help us, 
When we are old and lean upon them, 
Comes a youth with flaunting feathers. 
Beckons to the fairest maiden. 
And she follows where he leads her, 
Leaving all things for the stranger ! 

The Song of Hiawatha, 
[113] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

November Twenty-third 

In life's delight, in death's dismay, 
In storm and sunshine, night and day, 
In health, in sickness, in decay, 
Hei'e and hereafter, I am thine ! 

The Golden Legend. 

November Twenty-fourth 

Love is the root of creation ; God's essence ; 

worlds without number 
Lie in His bosom like children. 

The Children of the Lord's Supper, 

November Twenty-fifth 

O beauty of holiness, 
Of self-forgetfulness, of lowliness! 
O power of meekness, 
Whose very gentleness and weakness 
Are like the yielding, but irresistible air ! 
The Golden Legend, 

November Twenty-sixth 

Good night ! Good night, beloved ! 

I come to watch o'er thee ! 
To be near thee, — to be near thee, 

Alone is peace for me. 

The Spanish Student, 

[114] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

November Twenty-seventh 
Encamped beside Life's rushing stream, 

In Fancy's misty light, 
Gigantic shapes and shadows gleam 
Portentous through the night. 

The Beleaguered City, 

November Twenty-eighth 
They come, the shapes of joy and woe, 
The airy crowds of long ago, 
The dreams and fancies known of yore, 
They have been, and shall be no more. 
They change the cloisters of the night 
Into a garden of delight ; 
They make the dark and dreary hours 
Open and blossom into flowers ! 

The Golden Legend, 

November Twenty-ninth 
Into the Silent Land! 
To you, ye boundless regions 
Of all perfections ! Tender morning visions 
Of beauteous souls ! The Future's pledge and 

band 
Who in Life's battle firm doth stand, 
Shall bear Hope's tender blossoms 
Into the Silent Land ! 

Song of the Silent Land, 

[115] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

November Thirtieth 

The life which is, and that which is to come, 

Suspended hang in such nice equipoise 

A breath disturbs the balance ; and that scale 

In which we throw our hearts preponderates, 

And the other, like an empty one, flies up, 

And is accounted vanity and air ! 

To me the thought of death is terrible, 

Having such hold on life. To thee it is not 

So much even as the lifting of a latch ; 

Only a step into the open air 

Out of a tent already luminous 

With light that shines through its transparent 

walls. 
O pure in heart ! from thy sweet dust shall grow 
Lilies, upon whose petals will be written 
"Ave Maria" in characters of gold ! 

The Golden Legend. 



[116] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 



DECEMBER 

December First 

Onward its course the present keeps, 
Onward the constant current sweeps, 
Till life is done ; 

And, did we judge of time aright, 
The past and future in their flight 
Would be as one. 

Coplas de Manrique, 

December Second 

Lord, what am I, that, with unceasing care. 
Thou didst seek after me, — that thou didst wait, 
Wet with unhealthy dews, before my gate, 
And pass the gloomy nights of winter there? 
O strange delusion ! — that I did not greet 
Thy blest approach, and O, to Heaven how 

lost, 
If my ingratitude's unkindly frost 
Has chilled the bleeding wounds upon thy feet. 

To-morrow, 

[117] 



FROM DAY TO D.IY WITH LONGFELLOW 

December Third 

With reverent feet the earth he trod, 
Nor banished nature from his plan, 
But studied still with deep research 
To build the Universal Church, 
Lofty as is the love of God, 
And ample as the wants of man. 

The Wayside Inn. 

December Fourth 

Out of the bosom of the Air, 

Out of the cloud-folds of her garments 
shaken, 
Over the woodlands brown and bare 

Over the harvest-fields forsaken, 

Silent, and soft, and slow 

Descends the snow. Snow-^akes, 

December Fifth 

Shrilly the skater's iron rings, 
And voices fill the woodland side. 

Alas ! how changed from the fair scene. 
When birds sang out their mellow lay. 

And winds were soft, and woods were green, 
And the song ceased not with the day. 

Woods in Winter, 

[118] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

December Sixth 
If justice rules the universe, 
From the good actions of good men 
Angels of hght should be begotten, 
And thus the balance restored again. 

The Golden Legend, 
December Seventh 
Were half the power, that fills the world with 

terror. 
Were half the wealth, bestowed on camps and 

courts, 
Given to redeem the human mind from error, 
There were no need of arsenals nor forts. 

The Arsenal at Springfield, 
December Eighth 
God is not dead ; nor doth He sleep 
The wrong shall fail. 
The right prevail. 
With peace on earth, good-will to men ! 
Christmas Bells. 

December Ninth 
Leafless are the trees ; their purple branches 
Spread themselves abroad, like reefs of coral-, 

Rising silent 
In the Red Sea of the Winter sunset. 

The Golden Mile-stone. 

[119] 



PROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

>l>c '^ >^ >?^ 7^ >?^ 1^ >?^ >?^ >j^ >}~^ >?^>l^ >?*: >?K >^ 

Decembee Tenth 

O my Lord! 
Would I could leave behind me upon earth 
Some monument to Thy glory! 

The Golden Legend. 
December Eleventh 
And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud 
Throws o'er the sea a floating bridge of light, 
Across whose trembling planks our fancies 
crowd 
Into the realm of mystery and night, — 

So from the world of spirits there descends 
A bridge of light, connecting it with this. 
O'er whose unsteady floor, that sways and 
bends. 
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss. 

Haunted Houses. 
December Twelfth 
And the friendships old and the early loves 
Come back with a sabbath sound, as of doves 
In quiet neighborhoods. 

And the verse of that sweet old song, 
It flutters and murmurs still : 
"A boy's will is the wind's will. 
And the thoughts of youth are long, long 
thoughts." My Lost Youth, 

[120] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

December Thirteenth 
Above the darksome sea of death 
Looms the great life that is to be, 
A land of cloud and mystery, 
A dim mirage, with shapes of men 
Long dead, and passed beyond our ken. 
Awe-struck we gaze, and hold our breath 
Till the fair pageant vanisheth, 
Leaving us in perplexity, 
And doubtful whether it has been 
A vision of the world unseen. 
Or a bright image of our own 
Against the sky in vapors thrown. 

The Golden Legend. 
December Fourteenth 
I do not fear, I have a heart 
In whose strength I can trust. 

The Spanish Student. 
December Fifteenth 
O Land !0 Land! 
For all the broken-hearted 
The mildest herald by our fate allotted, 
Beckons, and with inverted torch doth stand 
To lead us with a gentle hand 
Into the land of the great Departed, 
Into the Silent Land ! 

Song of the Silent Land, 

[ 121 ] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

7^i''^yiKy^y^ >?< y^ Vi^T^sr'^^lxTpr v^ w^ y^ '/^ '/^ V|< 

December Sixteenth 
There is no flock, however watched and tended, 

But one dead lamb is there ! 
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
But has one vacant chair ! 

Resignation. 

December Seventeenth 
Ye children, does Death e'er alarm you ? 
Death is the brother of Love, twin-brother is he, 

and is only 
More austere to behold. With a kiss upon lips 

that are fading 
Takes he the soul and departs, and rocked in 

the arms of affection. 
Places the ransomed child, new born, 'fore the 

face of its father. 
The Children of the Lord's Supper. 

December Eighteenth 
I am the Angel of the Sun, 
Whose flaming wheels began to run 

When God's almighty breath 
Said to the darkness and the Night, 
Let there be light ! and there was light ! 
I bring the gift of Faith. 

The Golden Legend. 

[122] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

December Nineteenth 

We see but dimly through the mists and vapors ; 

Amid these earthly damps, 
What seem to us but sad, funereal tapers 

May be heaven's distant lamps. 

Resignution. 

December Twentieth 

Beautiful was the night. Behind the black wall 

of the forest, 
Tipping its summit with silver, arose the moon. 

On the river 
Fell here and there through the branches a 

tremulous gleam of the moonlight, 
Like the sweet thoughts of love on a darkened 

and devious spirit. 

Evangeline, 

December Twenty-first 

I am the Angel of the Moon, 
Darkened, to be rekindled soon 

Beneath the azure cope ! 
Nearest to earth, it is my ray 
That best illumes the midnight way, 

I bring the gift of Hope! 

The Golden Legend. 

[12S] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

December Twenty-second 

The Planet Jupiter is mine ! 

The mightiest star of all that shine, 

Except the sun alone! 
He is the High Priest of the Dove, 
And sends, from his great throne above, 

Justice, that shall atone ! 

The Golden Legend, 

December Twenty-third 
As a pilgrim to the Holy City 
Walks unmolested, and with thoughts of pardon 
Occupied wholly, so would I approach 
The gates of Heaven, in this great jubilee. 
With my petition, putting off from me 
All thoughts of earth, as shoes from off my 
feet. The Golden Legend, 

December Twenty-fourth 
Shepherds at the grange. 
Where the Babe was born. 
Sang, with many a change, 
Christmas carols until morn. 
Let us by the fire 
Ever higher 
Sing them till the night expire! 

A Christmas Carol. 

[124] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

December Twenty-fifth 
Hail to thee, Christ of Christendom! 
O'er all the earth thy kingdom come ! 

The Golden Legend, 
December Twenty-sixth 
I heard the bells on Christmas Day 
Their old, familiar carols play, 
And wild and sweet 
The words repeat 
Of "Peace on earth, good-will to men." 

Christmas Bells. 
December Twenty-seventh 
By what astrology of fear or hope 
Dare I to cast thy horoscope ! 
Like the new moon thy life appears ; 
A little strip of silver light, 
And widening outward into night 
The shadowy disk of future years : 
And yet upon its outer rim, 
A luminous circle, faint and dim, 
And scarcely visible to us here. 
Rounds and completes the perfect sphere; 
A prophecy and intimation, 
A pale and feeble adumbration, 
Of the great world of light, that lies 
Behind all human destinies. To a Child. 

[125] 



FKOM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

December Twenty-eighth 
Wassail for the kingly stranger 
Born and cradled in a manger ! 
King, like David, priest, like Aaron, 
Christ is born to set us free! 

The Norman Baron, 

December Twenty-ninth 
Alas ! our memories may retrace 
Each circumstance of time and place. 
Season and scene come back again, 
And outward things unchanged remain ; 
The rest we cannot reinstate; 
Ourselves we cannot re-create. 
Nor set our souls to the same key 
Of the remembered harmony ! 

The Golden Legend. 

December Thirtieth 
Down the dark future, through long genera- 
tions. 
The echoing sounds grow fainter and then 
cease ; 
And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations, 
I hear once more the voice of Christ say, 
"Peace!" 

The Arsenal at Springfield. 

[ 126 ] 



FROM DAY TO DAY WITH LONGFELLOW 

December Thirty-first 

Thus the Seer, 

With vision clear, 

Sees forms appear and disappear, 

In the perpetual round of strange, 

Mysterious change 

From birth to death, from death to birth, 

From earth to heaven, from heaven to earth ; 

Till glimpses more sublime 

Of things, unseen before, 

Unto his wondering eyes reveal 

The Universe, as an immeasurable wheel 

Turning for evermore 

In the rapid and rushing river of Time. 

Rain in Summer, 



[127] 



JUL Bl 1910 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



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